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On 10 May 2019, 187 countries – but not the US – agreed to a deal at the United Nations Basel Convention that restricts shipments of plastic waste to poorer countries.

Previously, businesses could send their lower quality plastic waste to private entities in these developing countries without any government approvals. And since China’s plastic waste ban, countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand have been flooded with wealthier industrialised nations’ plastic recycling, according to The Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA).

The UN amendment means exporting countries will have to obtain consent from countries to receive contaminated, mixed or unrecyclable plastic waste. The upshot is that wealthy countries will have to monitor where their plastic waste goes when it leaves their borders. The new rules will take a year to come into force.